Britannia in chains

The world sees Britain as the mother of free speech. Without a constitution to enshrine that liberty, press regulation could destroy it

Whenever I hear Americans congratulating themselves on having invented
political liberty, as they routinely do, I wince.

“We are the oldest continuous democracy on the planet,” you hear, even in
educated circles. Without America, you’re regularly told, freedom would not
exist or soon be banished.

I sometimes wonder if these pontificators of American exceptionalism have ever
been to Canada. Or Germany. Or Japan. But it’s not exactly polite to
puncture the self-loving balloon. I only do so when they blatantly ignore
the country of my birth and its unique role in developing the core ideas,
practices and institutions that Americans enjoy.

Have they ever heard of Magna Carta, I wonder. Do they not know that Britain
had a parliament long before Americans had a Congress? Have they heard of
John Locke or John Stuart Mill? Do they recall that the core case of the
colonists during the War of Independence